Morphology of the Folktale

Morphology of the Folktale had two major objectives. The first was to make some changes in the text of the first edition for the sake of completeness and uniformity. In this regard, note should be taken of one general convention adopted for the present edition: the expression narddnaja skdzka has been rendered as "folktale," voU6bnaja skdzka as "fairy tale," and the words skdzka (noun), skdzofnyj (adjective) simply as "tale." The chief departure from this practice is in regard to the title itself(Morfoldgija skdzki), since a change here might have led to undue confusion. The morphology presented by the author is, of course, a morphology of the fairy tale specifically,and he is careful to make note of this fact in the Foreword and in Chapter II. Thus the title of the work is, unfortunately, somewhat unclear. It is evident from the text that the unqualified word skdzka is used by Propp both in the sense of tale in general and in the sense of fairy tale, depending upon context. The reader must infer the appropriate meaning in each instance.